Derek's blog about writing, freelancing and creativity. Contents may have moved during transit.

Saturday, 22 July 2017

Give Your Freelancing a Reboot

Are you worn down by the well-travelled path?

How many times have you
found yourself following a familiar working pattern, even though it no longer
delivers the same level of positive results?

The routine runs like
clockwork – set-up, prospecting, emails, social media, yadda yadda. If you’re
not paying careful attention to your business you can fail to spot the trends
for a gradual decline in individual revenue streams, the increase in wasted
time, and a lack of meaningful growth (more one-off gigs that took an hour to
prospect are not growth unless they lead directly to a significantly better
rate or a better class of referral).

The first challenge is to stop. Shut down the monkey mind that
equates multiple activities with progress, switch off the self-doubting monologue
about your limitations (education, location, time constraints, take your pick…)
and take a breath.

Einstein nailed it in 1951* when he wrote: Insanity is doing the
same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

As readers of this blog will
know, I rely on my trusty spreadsheet – not the graphs, but I could if I wanted
to. I can see what work I’ve completed for which clients, when, and the value
to my business. It's one of the means I use to prioritise my time. There is an interesting correlation between that value and my enjoyment of the work, but this may just be a quirk of mine.

A few tips

If you use freelance sites
such as People Per Hour, regularly review your profile. Look for best practice
by checking out the profiles of freelancers who won the jobs that you didn’t.
Perhaps they are presenting similar skills in a better way or targeting their
clients better?

If you’ve been writing
regularly for a client, check whether the way you present your business aligns with their
business.

Go back through your profile
/ business resume and weed out any information or links that are no longer
relevant. This can include dead links (for dead websites), content that - for
whatever reason - doesn’t convey the impression you need to attract the clients
you want, and vague terminology. For example, a seasoned writer of what?

Experiment with different
styles of communication. Try on different personalities for your business and
see which ones fit, and whether you might benefit from varying your style
according to which businesses you approach.

Mix things up. Try varying
your start and break times (you have breaks, right?). Disrupt your working
pattern and introduce more creativity into your thinking and your approach. New
ideas are the lifeblood of writing and you are more likely to encounter them if
you’re not fixated on the familiar.

What can you do today to make a difference to your freelancing
business?